


Tired Eyes

by cinnabongene



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Caretaking, Fae Robbie Rotten, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, M/M, Massage, Pre-Slash, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 05:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9970907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnabongene/pseuds/cinnabongene
Summary: Sportacus is running himself ragged, trying to be a good role-model for the kids but never stopping to take care of himself. Robbie finds out just how bad it's gotten and decides to take matters into his own hands, teaching Sportacus the importance of self-care.





	

Sportacus returned to his airship at 8:03pm and slumped against the wall as soon as the door closed behind him. He was too exhausted to bother eating dinner; besides, he only had five minutes to get ready for bed. “Toothbrush,” he requested of the ship after taking a moment to collect himself. 

“You threw your last toothbrush out the door this morning,” his ship reminded him in an even tone. 

Sportacus sighed. He’d have to go buy more tomorrow. But for now, what he really needed to do was get some sleep. “Bed.” The bed folded out from the wall and he let himself fall backwards down onto it. He was asleep almost instantly, without even removing his shoes, his hat, or his bracers. 

He awoke when sunlight started filtering in through the windows. It had not been a fulfilling sleep, but instead one of those nights where he felt like he had merely blinked his eyes instead of having closed them for hours. “Time?” he asked the ship. 

“3:07 AM,” it reported dutifully. 

Sportacus sighed. As much as he loved the long summer days, he wished the sun didn’t have to come up quite this early. He knew it would be impossible for him to get back to sleep now, despite the exhaustion lingering in his bones. So instead, he got up and went straight into his exercise routine, ignoring his aching muscles, tired eyes, and growling stomach. 

After a few hours, Sportacus looked down upon LazyTown with his spyglass and saw that the children were out playing, and Robbie appeared to be sleeping on a bench. He wondered if the early sunrises and late sunsets got to Robbie too. Maybe that’s why the man lived underground. 

Sportacus put his spyglass away and took the ladder down to the town square. “Hey, kids! What are you up to today?” he asked them. 

“Sportacus!” the kids cried, gathering around him. 

“We’re playing soccer!” said Ziggy, holding up the ball. 

“Wow, that’s great!” said Sportacus. “Mind if I join?”

“Of course you can join!” said Stephanie. 

The game was going great; Sportacus loved nothing more than seeing the kids running around, laughing and having fun. Stephanie passed the ball to him, setting him up to score a goal. But just as he was about to kick, he was overcome by a wave of dizziness, and missed, tripping over the ball and landing on the ground instead. The kids gathered around him as he pushed himself up.

“Sportacus, are you okay?” Stephanie asked. 

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine,” he assured them. 

“You look like I do after I stay up all night playing video games,” Pixel remarked. 

“Yeah, you need some energy. Maybe you should eat some sports candy!” suggested Ziggy.

“I think you’re right, Ziggy,” said Sportacus. “Apple!” An apple dropped down from the ship and landed in Sportacus’ waiting hand. He took one bite of the apple, then, not wanting to keep the children waiting for the time it took to eat a whole apple, chucked the rest of it haphazardly behind him. He jumped to his feet and flexed, pretending to have been completely restored, while not actually feeling any better. “Alright, let’s play!” 

Sportacus managed to keep himself together to play for a little while longer. However, when Trixie kicked the ball too far and it went hurtling off into some trees, he quickly volunteered to be the one to retrieve it, hoping he’d be able to use the opportunity to catch his breath for a moment. After fruitlessly searching through the bushes for a few moments, Sportacus gave in to the lightheaded exhaustion consuming him and leaned back against the trunk of a tree, burying his face in his hands. He couldn’t let the kids see him like this. He had to set a good example so they’d keep exercising and eating healthy.

From his place on the bench, Robbie quirked an eyebrow. This wasn’t like Sportacus. Although, the elf had been acting more and more run down over the past few weeks. Sometimes it even seemed like _Robbie_ had more energy. Robbie sighed and pushed himself up off the bench. The last thing he needed was Sportacus passing out and him having to deal with five frantic children while also trying to find a hospital that would treat elves. 

“Hey, Sportasnore. What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to keep all traces of concern out of his voice as he approached. 

Sportacus whipped his head up to look at Robbie. “Oh, nothing. I’m fine. Just needed a little rest is all.” 

Robbie narrowed his eyes. If there was anything he was familiar with, it was sleep deprivation, malnutrition, and lies—and Sportacus was showing the signs of all three. He took a step closer, pointedly entering Sportacus’ personal space. “Sportacus… how long did you sleep last night?” 

Sportacus looked down at the ground. “Seven hours.”

“Seven hours? Don’t…” Robbie lowered his voice and turned his back so there would be no chance of the kids overhearing. “Don’t _elves_ need ten?” 

Sportacus’ eyes filled with shock. He glanced back to the soccer field to make sure the kids had not been listening. “How—how do you know I’m…?” 

“That’s beside the point. You need to get some sleep.”

“Robbie, I’m fine, really—”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“I had an apple just now.”

Robbie glanced down at the bitten apple which lay just to the left of his feet. “You mean that apple?” 

Sportacus look down at it sheepishly. “Uh…”

“That’s not eating.”

“But the kids—”

“Will be fine,” Robbie interjected, placing a hand on Sportacus’ shoulder to keep him from running back to the soccer field. “You need to take care of yourself. Come on, let’s get you home.” Robbie walked Sportacus away from the trees to a place he could call down his ladder. 

“Robbie, you don’t need to come with me,” Sportacus insisted. 

“I don’t trust you not to start running around on no sleep and an empty stomach again. If you won’t look out for yourself, someone has to.” 

“Ladder,” called Sportacus, too weak to put up a fight. The ladder dropped down and Sportacus grabbed on with one hand, and used the other arm to hold Robbie tightly against his chest. “Up,” he ordered the ship. Robbie closed his eyes and held on tightly to both the ladder and Sportacus as they ascended. Why did he always have to go and get himself involved like this? 

Once they were safely inside, Robbie opened his eyes and removed himself from Sportacus, straightening his clothes to regain his dignity. “Alright, Sportaflop, where’s your bed?” 

“It’s too early for that. Really, I’m fine.” 

“Sportacus. If one of the kids were overworking themselves the way you are, wouldn’t you tell them to go home and take care of themselves?” 

“Of course, but—”

“No buts. You can’t just take care of everyone else all the time and ignore your own needs. You need—you _deserve_ to take care of yourself too. Now, your bed.” 

“Bed,” Sportacus murmured, humbled by Robbie’s words. When was the last time someone had told him he deserved anything? 

Robbie raised his eyebrows as the bed unfolded behind Sportacus, impressed by the feat of engineering. “Alright. Sit down. Now where do you keep your food?” 

“Apple,” said Sportacus from his seated position on the edge of the bed. The ship spat one out into his hand. 

“I want you to eat the whole thing this time, not just one bite. And you’ll need something more substantial too. How do you... Don’t you have a pantry or something?” 

“Ship, show Robbie the food,” said Sportacus around his third bite of apple. 

One of the wall panels opened up, revealing all of Sportacus’ food supplies. It was mostly apples, a few pears and some bananas as well, but Robbie managed to dig out some whole grain bread, organic cheese, lettuce, a tomato, and a cucumber to assemble a sandwich for Sportacus. “Bon appétit, Sportaloon,” he said, plopping the sandwich down into Sportacus’ hands. 

“Wow, thank you, Robbie. I didn’t know you could cook!” Sportacus looked up at him with genuine amazement that made Robbie scoff. 

“Cook? I just cut up some of your disgusting vegetables and put them between two slices of your horrid healthy bread. If you want to see me _really_ cook, you’ll have to come over to my place for dinner sometime. _Then_ you can be impressed.” 

Sportacus gave Robbie a small smile as he held the sandwich up to his mouth. “I’d like that.” 

Robbie’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought Sportacus would interpret that as an actual invitation. But before he could take it back, Sportacus was grinning brightly at him, saying: “This is delicious, Robbie! Thank you!” 

“Don’t mention it. Really. I don’t want the kids begging me to pack their lunches for them,” Robbie muttered as he cleaned up the remaining sandwich ingredients. 

“What now?” Sportacus asked once he had finished his sandwich. 

“Now, you go to sleep.” 

“But it isn’t 8:08 yet!” 

“Don’t argue with me, Sporty,” said Robbie. “Lay down, and go to sleep.” 

Sportacus sighed and laid back on the bed, throwing the blanket haphazardly over himself and closing his eyes. Robbie just stood and gawked at him for a moment. “Don’t you have any pajamas? At least take off your shoes! No wonder you can’t sleep for long!” 

Sportacus sat up and blushed. “Oh. I’m just always so tired at the end of the day, I never bother to get undressed. Besides, what if someone needs me in the middle of the night? I might not have enough time to get dressed again.” 

“No one’s going to need you right now. And if they do, I’ll handle it.” 

“You will?”

“Yes. Now take off your shoes, put on something comfortable, and give your crystal to me.” 

“Pajamas!” Sportacus requested of the ship, more curious than anything as to what it would come up with. A white undershirt and a pair of blue plaid boxers dropped into his arms. “I guess this is the best I have.” 

“That’ll work,” said Robbie. Sportacus nodded and slowly began undressing, starting by tugging off his boots, then slipping off his bracers and unstrapping his crystal. Robbie had almost forgotten how much trouble getting dressed and undressed by hand was; he was getting exhausted just watching. “Here, let me,” he said, grabbing the elf’s hand and pulling him to his feet. 

“Robbie, what are you—” Sportacus was cut off by Robbie spinning him around in a whirl of magic. When Sportacus stopped spinning, he found he was only wearing the undershirt, the boxers, and his hat. His other clothes were neatly folded into a pile on his bed. “Robbie…” he breathed in. “How did you do that?”

“What? Don’t tell me you hadn’t figured out I’m part fae by now. That’s how I, uh, knew you were an elf, by the way. I could sense your magic. Don’t worry; I don’t think any human would be able to tell. Unless they saw the ears, of course.” 

Sportacus just continued to stare at Robbie in shock, as if reevaluating everything he ever thought he knew. 

“Well, now you know,” said Robbie, attempting to break the silence. “Come on, you can’t possibly still be embarrassed about your ears after that.” 

Sportacus reached up and took off his hat, laying it carefully with the rest of his clothes. It was the first time he’d allowed someone to see him without it in years. “Thank you, Robbie,” he nearly whispered. 

Robbie tried to steal a glance at Sportacus’ delicately pointed ears without looking like he was staring. “There, see. That wasn’t so hard. Now lay down.” 

Sportacus laid down to sleep, and Robbie took a seat on the counter that had popped up when he’d started cooking. He tried to look anywhere other than Sportacus, but it was difficult when the elf kept fidgeting and repositioning himself. “It’s no use, Robbie. I can’t sleep,” Sportacus conceded after a minute. “Maybe if I get up and do some exercises—”

“No. Even if you can’t sleep, you need to relax. You’re running yourself ragged from stress.” 

“I… I don’t know how to relax,” Sportacus admitted in a small voice. 

Robbie sighed as he pushed off of the counter and went to stand by Sportacus’ bedside. “Move over. Let me help.” 

Sportacus scooted over to make room for Robbie. The taller man sat down on the bed and instructed Sportacus to sit up and turn around so he could massage his back and shoulders. “Jeez, Sportastress, you’re even more tense than me!” remarked Robbie as he dug into Sportacus’ tight muscles. 

“Robbie, your fingers are magical,” Sportacus nearly purred, feeling himself melt under the touch. 

“Well, yes, but I don’t think that has anything to do with it,” Robbie chuckled. 

As Sportacus grew more and more relaxed, he started to droop over, until he finally let his head fall down to the pillow. Thinking the elf was finally asleep, Robbie slowly withdrew his hands and made to get off the bed. “Don’t stop…” Sportacus slurred sleepily. 

Robbie sat back down and tried to continue the massage, but the angles were all wrong now. So he kicked off his shoes and laid down next to Sportacus before placing his hands back on the other man’s shoulders. As Sportacus’ breaths grew long and even, Robbie dared to move his hands up the elf’s neck and into his curly golden hair. When Sportacus sighed contentedly, Robbie massaged his scalp and temples, then let his hands wander down to the pointed ears and gently rubbed those as well. 

Half asleep, Sportacus rolled over and nuzzled his face into Robbie’s chest. Robbie was caught off guard at first, but after a moment, draped one of his arms over Sportacus and rested his hand gently on the small of the elf’s back. “It’s okay, Sport. Go to sleep. Everything will still be here when you wake up,” he whispered lowly. 

And then after a few minutes of nothing but steady, deep breathing from Sportacus, Robbie looked down and pressed a soft kiss to the sleeping elf’s forehead. 

“R’bbie,” Sportacus murmured, eyes still closed. From his position pressed against the fae’s chest, he could hear Robbie’s heartrate pick up.

“Yeah, Sport?” 

“Thank you.” 

Robbie relaxed and pulled Sportacus closer, nuzzling his face into the elf’s curls. “Goodnight, Sportacus.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by this post!  
> https://robbae-hotten.tumblr.com/post/157716924899/just-throwing-this-out-there-sportacus-is-actually
> 
> This turned out less dark and more fluffy than originally intended hahah. Hope y'all liked it! Thanks for reading! 
> 
> My LazyTown tumblr is bi-robbie-rotten.tumblr.com


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